Lacey Williams Henschel

Lacey is on the Support Team for Django Girls and has organized 3 successful Django Girls workshops in the past year, with one more coming up! She works for the University of Texas at Austin remotely from Portland, Oregon. Fun fact: Her interview with "Hermione Granger" was actually with her tabby cat, also called Hermione. Gotcha!

Hermione Granger and the Wizard Information System

While her first six years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are well documented, most know that Hermione Granger did not attend Hogwarts for her scheduled seventh and final year due to unforeseen circumstances involving Voldemort, hunting horcruxes, and saving the world. Many are unaware that Miss Granger returned to Hogwarts after Voldemort’s death to complete her seventh year and take her N.E.W.T. exams. During this time, Miss Granger consulted with Professor McGonagall to arrange several short-term internships and independent studies, including a three-month stint at Maleficus Revelio, the software development consulting firm responsible for the Ministry of Magic's Wizard Information System (WIS). Last year, I conducted a series of interviews with Miss Granger, now with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, about her experience as a software developer intern; this presentation is the result of those interviews.

Although Hogwarts gave her no direct experience in maintaining a large software system, Hermione discovered that her time as a student, researcher, and activist had excellently prepared her for this role. In particular, her experience at Hogwarts and in fighting the Dark Lord involved collaboration, creative problem solving, research and documentation, and critical thinking skills. Her prior mishap with Polyjuice Potion helped her understand the vital role that testing plays in software development, and her experience with solving logic puzzles while helping recover the Sorcerer’s Stone aided her in outlining her code before she began writing. Her passion for research made her a natural at documenting her code; it was vital to her that others be able to understand her work. Miss Granger is still very active in the magical open-source community; for example, in addition to her many other useful projects, she’s made her translation of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” available online. This presentation will help audience members relive their own Hogwarts glory days while discovering how those lessons can help them bring more magic into their daily lives as developers.